Eye-on-Retail Daily Tipsheet Archives

Cyber Monday sales break a record, with $7.9 billion spent online: Adobe at CNBC. “…an increase of 19.3 percent from a year ago…Mobile transactions by themselves grew 55.6 percent Cyber Monday compared with last year to reach $2.2 billion in sales.”Read more

…Cyber Monday was Amazon’s single biggest shopping day in the company’s history at Fast Company.Read more

CVS, Aetna win final state approval for their merger at CNBC. “…now expect the deal to close “on or about” Nov. 28, the companies said Monday in regulatory filings. The companies had been expecting to finalize the merger by Thanksgiving. However, a handful of the 28 states CVS and Aetna needed approval from opposed the combination.”Read more

…CVS-Aetna merger approved by New York regulators by Josh Kosman & Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “…the list of conditions didn’t include what many critics were calling for: that Aetna participate in the Affordable Care Act and that the combined company support state legislation to license the pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, that negotiate drug prices for patients.”Read more

The U.S. Housing Boom Is Coming to an End, Starting in Dallas by Laura Kusisto at Wall Street Journal. “In contrast, supply is tight in the small slice of the market where homes are still priced below $200,000. Real-estate agents say it is becoming tougher to persuade buyers to move and give up their sub-4% mortgage rates—which they fear they won’t see again.”WSJ subs.

Amazon makes available for free the same machine learning courses that it uses to train its own engineers by Connie Loizos at TechCrunch. “…there are more than 45 hours across 30 different courses that developers, data scientists, data platform engineers and business professionals can take gratis.”Read more

Apple to host free coding sessions at stores by Sarah Perez at TechCrunch. “Apple also introduced a new Swift Coding Club kit for teachers and students that provides the materials needed for them to start their own coding clubs at school. This kit is designed for students ages 8 and up.”Read more

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Amazon, With Little Fanfare, Emerges as an Advertising Giant by Lara O’Reilly & Laura Stevens at Wall Street Journal. “The company’s frugal culture has been something of a mismatch for the glitzy sales events and long lunches that grease business deals on Madison Avenue…“I don’t think you will ever see the [Amazon] yacht at Cannes, unfortunately,” said Will Margaritis, lead Amazon consultant at advertising group Dentsu Aegis Network.”WSJ subs.

Amazon wants brands to advertise Alexa voice shopping — essentially for free by Rani Molla at Recode. “In (Amazon’s) perspective, it would be great for Amazon if all the holiday ads this year are for voice shopping,” Goldberg said. “The effect is that consumers will think voice shopping has arrived.”Read more

Jack Ma Confirmed as Chinese Communist Party Member at Bloomberg.Tiered subs.

Supreme Court appears skeptical of Apple’s arguments in App Store monopoly case at CNBC. “…in a case that could permit iPhone owners to move forward with an antitrust suit against the company for allegedly inflating the prices in its App Store. That lawsuit could disrupt the electronic giant’s mobile software sales ecosystem, and potentially hit the company with hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties.”Read more

H&M to close down its struggling Cheap Monday brand at Reuters.Read more

Why Trump slapping a 10% tariff on iPhones would come at an awful time for Apple by Brian Sozzi at Yahoo Finance.Read more

Christmas tree shortage hits South Florida by Taylor Dolven at Miami Herald. “Think of it as a hangover from the Great Recession. Even though it struck a full decade ago, the 2008 downturn and a concurrent glut of yuletide firs and spruces drove many growers out of business. The supply is now tight.”Read more

Tipsheet Extra Stories

Amazon veteran leaves after 20 years to help take stock-trading startup public